The crash was horrible, undoubtedly - and all from a single wheel touch.
Lizzie said afterwards that the race was 'too easy'. I think she meant that no-one wanted to take it on, and that negativity permeated the whole race. At the end, it wasn't that the chase group worked so well that the leading four were inevitably overtaken, it was that the leading four were equally reluctant to lead, and the impasse took priority over riding the bloody race! They simply forgot that the chasing group weren't similarly shy and were going to take any advantage they could get - and they did. By that measure, none of those four deserved a place.
The men's race is shaping up as similarly negative and safe. 37kmh average? The Poles 'doing all the work', but at that speed it's hardly working (for the value of working appropriate to these guys!). And they don't have anyone in the break which is around 6 minutes up. Yes, the break will be caught, but I hope someone decides to turn this into a race and not a procession.
